The 98th Giro d’Italia wrapped up on Sunday with a 185 km course, concluding with a 7 lap circuit of 5.4km through Milan.
As expected, Tinkoff lead the peloton into the city and over the finish line for the first time.
Contador in the maglia rosa.
The peloton was a blur.
Hesjedal.
Six laps to go.
Clement Chevrier and Davide Formolo.
Five laps to go.
In the morning, Andrea and I made our predictions for the stage, agreeing that someone from Orica would surely go on the attack in Milan. Sure enough, when a break formed, Luke Durbridge flew the flag for the Aussie squad, accompanied by Iljo Keisse of Etixx Quick Step.
The peloton barreling down the straight away.
Lampre and Trek now started moving to the front in anticipation of the sprint lap.
Simon Geschke and Fabio Aru.
A Bardiani rider, Esteban Chaves, and Kevin Reza.
Martijn Keizer, Hubert Dupont, and Jesus Herrada.
Marcus Burghardt, surrounded by members of Cannondale Garmin, suffered a mechanical.
Four laps to go!
Keisse and Durbridge had about 30 seconds on the peloton and were cooperating well.
Giacomo Nizzolo and a Trek teammate.
The maglia rosa tucked safely in the bunch.
Gilbert stretching his neck ahead of Elia Favilli and teammate Damiano Caruso.
Hugo Houle and Silvan Dillier.
Sergey Tsvetcov, Burghardt, and Darwin Atapuma.
With 3 to go, the gap for Durbridge and Keisse remained steady.
Sprinters Sacha Modolo and Nizzolo.
Ion Izaguirre, Michael Hepburn, and Chad Haga.
Sylvain Chavanel and Alejksis Saramotins.
Giovanni Visconti didn’t get the stage win in the Giro he was looking for, but did secure the KOM jersey.
Two laps!
With only around 10km left in the race, the duo of Keisse and Durbridge looked like they’d hang on for the victory. Keisse, an accomplished track rider, and Durbridge, former Australian TT champion, continued to take turns pulling.
Chris Juul-Jensen led the peloton on its penultimate lap.
It seemed like a surprisingly high number of riders were getting flats approaching the finish line. In Chad Haga’s Giro Journal for Velo News, he explained that the final 90 degree turn into the finishing straight was the cause of so many flats. Below: Gilbert flatted.
Andre Cardoso.
Heinrich Haussler had to wait for team assistance when he flatted as the IAM car was already helping Chevrier, who had also flatted.
The bell lap!
Keisse and Durbridge continued to cooperate, but for how much longer? Their gap wasn’t huge but it looked to be enough to spoil the party for the sprinters.
Lampre and Katusha moved to the front. Trek opted to sit out the bunch sprint, having calculated that if the team pulled, they risked losing the sprint as well as the red jersey. Instead they decided to keep the jersey and not try for the stage.
The final corner claimed another victim, this time Luka Mezgec (center), winner of the final stage of the 2014 Giro. He chased furiously but was not able to rejoin the front group.
The finish!
Watching the breakaway on the final lap was torturous: around 500 meters to go, it was clear that Keisse could taste the win. As Durbridge furiously flicked his elbow for Keisse to come round, the Belgian sat on the Aussie’s wheel. Durbridge tried to slow down and started to weave back and forth across the road but he couldn’t shake Keisse. When Keisse launched his attack, Durbridge couldn’t respond, and the Belgian claimed his first Grand Tour stage win.
A glance over his shoulder told Durbridge they had beat the peloton by only about 100 meters.
Roger Kluge, who had finished dead last on the previous 2 stages, won the bunch sprint for third place.
Uran and Burghardt.
Contador held up 3 fingers as he crossed the line, a nod to his 3 Giro victories, only 2 of which are officially on the books.
Cardoso and Carlos Betancur.
Nate Brown finished his second Grand Tour.
Simon Geschke.
Juul-Jensen celebrated his teammate’s victory.
Hugs and high-5s from the Tinkoff riders.
I’ve been impressed by the accessibility the Giro has offered its spectators, especially compared to the Tour de France, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that I was able to head up the road and catch the podium ceremony. Below: Keisse celebrating his stage win.
The final podium opens their Prosecco bottles.
Contador and the Senza Fine.
You can be sure that Oleg Tinkoff was up to his usual attention grabbing antics when the whole Tinkoff team was invited on the stage to share in Contador’s victory, but you’ll find none of those photos here.
Fresh off of 2 recent stages, among the hardest in this year’s race, having finished second overall, and taking the best young rider’s white jersey, the Italians in the crowd were over the moon with the Sardinian phenom.
Visconti on the podium one final time as KOM.
Giacomo Nizzolo kept the sprinters’ jersey after it had changed hands 6 times over the 3 week race.
From all accounts, the 2015 Giro d’Italia was one of the hardest in recent history. I’m sure it was nothing short of brutal to ride, but it was an absolute joy to watch.